Natural Bug Repellents

Natural Bug Repellents

Wed Jul 13, 2011 1:29 pm

So I was doing some pruning in the garden this morning before work, and the mosquitos were everywhere. I was near my basil plants, so I figured I would run a few leaves over my skin to see what would happen. It worked great. The bugs still came nearby, but it seemed once they got a whiff of me, they would immediately retreat.

Do any of guys use anything to keep the bugs off?

Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right.

Yeah, they generally don't like anything aromatic. So rubbing your skin with mint leaves, anise hyssop, yarrow, tansy, bee balm, etc. is supposed to help. Honestly though, with as fierce as the mosquitos are in my yard, all that stuff slows them down, but doesn't really keep me from being bitten. I know this from experience!

A natural (commercial ) product that does work for me is Bite Blocker, with geranium oil and other herbal ingredients. Mosquitos apparently HATE geranium oil. I have a little device for my deck that is a tiny fan blowing across a cake of geranium oil, diffusing the scent. Once it has been running for awhile, it keeps an area the size of my deck mosquito free.